- Sep 10, 2020
- 41
- 20
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Single
Ᾰ
Controlling God
It seems blasphemous to imagine ourselves having control over the presence or power of God but Scripture seems to allude otherwise. In Psalm 70 David prays that God be magnified and in The Magnificat our Blessed Mother unabashedly proclaims claims her soul to be magnifying the Lord. Matthew 13:58 even tells us that by a lack of human faith, Christ himself "could not" or "would not", depending on which translation you read, perform many miracles. These passages don't read as if someone was forced into magnifying God or denied the faith that would have led to more miracles. Mary accepted God's will in her life willingly and David didn't have to pray for God's magnification. Even the faithlessness that prevented miracles doesn't seem to be forced on anyone. These were human choices leading to Godly reactions and other choices would have led to other reactions, all of which implies human control.
It cannot be that God's presence or power is subject to human control though, unless by wisdom beyond our understanding, God has deigned fit to allow that control. But why would the Creator give such control to the created? It pays to recall here that the purpose of our creation in the first place was to give glory to God. This is our destiny so in some way, God giving us control over his presence and power must serve that end. This begs the question, how does human control over God's presence and power lead into glorifying God? David's attempt to enlarge God is a good example because magnifying God in this fallen realm is a clear case of glorifying him. It's an admission that we were wrong to reject God and a humble plea for his much needed return. Blessed Mary, speaking in present tense, exemplifies the successful human glorification of God in current, real time progress. In both cases God has allowed human beings a certain control over his presence in our fallen realm and done so in a way that conveniently fulfills our destiny to glorify him. God wants us to glorify his name and makes it easy for us to do so by allowing us the power to enlarge his Spirit in this world.
By faithlessness though, God also allows us the power to deny his presence, as with those who enjoyed fewer miracles by not recognizing Christ as God. Those people exercised their power over God's presence by mistakenly pushing it away from themselves, leading future generations to learn from their mistake. All men have the God given power to expand or reduce the presence of God in their lives and the world at large. God grants this control to aid our destiny in glorifying his name, knowing that through the course of time we shall recognize the blessings of calling forth his presence and learn from the times we turned him back. In this way shall the destiny of our species be fulfilled, as all men come to glorify our God by wantonly calling back his fullest presence to our internal selves and the entirety of this fallen realm, now and forever, Amen.
Ᾰ
artoriuslacomus@protonmail.com